The Color of Surveillance: Disproportionate Impacts of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

As Congress considered renewal of a powerful government surveillance authority, Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, this panel offered perspectives on the long-standing disproportionate impacts of foreign intelligence surveillance.

Some of the experts and advocates at the center of this discussion joined the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee for a conversation on how foreign intelligence surveillance intersects with race, class, and policy.

Archived video is available here, courtesy of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Companies' ability and responsibility to keep people's information private has massive consequences on individuals' privacy rights. As the kinds and volume of data they hold about us continue to grow so does the significance of their role as a steward of the public's information.

The Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee hosted a conversation with some of the companies and organizations at the center of this discussion, including Google, the i2Coalition, Mozilla, and Twilio.

What privacy issues do they see as most in need of Congressional attention? What vulnerabilities pose the greatest risks to the public? Topics covered included cross-border data sharing, encryption, ECPA, and Section 702.

What does it cost to enter the United States? For American citizens and immigrants alike, people are increasingly being asked to leave their right to privacy at home. From biometric scanning to detention, your rights function differently at borders and airports -- and that can change even more based on your race and nationality.

The Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee and the Niskanen Center hosted an expert panel discussion exploring the privacy costs of entering the United States. Representatives Farenthold and Polis also made remarks during the event.

On April 26th, the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee hosted a panel of experts to discuss Section 702, the controversial authority governing PRISM and Upstream surveillance that is set to expire at the end of 2017.

The event, in Rayburn HOB, was put on in concert with the Fourth Amendment Caucus. Caucus co-chair Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) joined to make statements, which can be viewed at 32:10 in the video below.

At The Usual Suspects: Bias in Government Surveillance, our expert panel discussed the profound impacts of the government's immense surveillance practices and the different ways it affects different people. The event took place on November 30th, 2016, in Rayburn HOB, room 2226.

If you don't have time to watch the whole panel, be sure to listen to Professor Xi's story — one of unjust prosecution, spying, and raids. The audio of Professor Xi's introduction is louder in this version, as well.

Rule 41 is a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure that governs when judges may issue warrants. On December 1st, absent action from Congress, a change will go into effect that will dramatically expand the authority of the government to hack into computers. In short, the changes would allow law enforcement to apply for a warrant that allows agents to hack into any number of computers in any number of jurisdictions in certain circumstances.

What happens if FBI malware damages innocent people’s computers? Would this change increase forum shopping? Is such hacking even lawful? On September 28, 2016, our panel of experts discussed what’s going on and what they believe Congress should do about it.

The Fourth Amendment Caucus was created to defend the Fourth Amendment, which protects the privacy of people against unreasonable government searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee was founded to support the caucus’s goals by educating Congress, engaging the public, and convening discussions about how to protect Americans’ right to privacy.